How do you introduced baby Chicks to full grown hens?

[3Unicorns]

Hi
I know your thread is old, but I hope you get this and reply. I agree with everything you have said. I have done everything you have suggested. However, I have a white Leghorn older hen which her and the mama start fighting like a cock fight! Scare the beegeebees out of me. IT has happened everytime I try integrating the flock. I am worried they will kill each other. I have not stayed out there for more than 30 mins. Panic and separate them again. Help. Thank You Yvonne

 

[3Unicorns]

As usual, Ridgerunner is full of wisdom and good advice.

I learned sooooo much from the OTs (old timer) here, they really know their stuff.

I've had a dozen or so successful hatches now, all because when I first found BYC the first thing I did was devour the original OT thread, the HLF thread, and any others I could find where the OTs were hanging out.

I have NEVER had an older hen or rooster kill a chick, and this is after integrating more than 100 chicks into the flock over the last year and a half. Some of the things I do as I learned from them that makes hatching and integration so easy.

1) If I have a broody, I make good use of her. After many broody hatches and incubator hatches, I find I prefer incubator hatching. But if I want chicks and a hen goes broody, I set eggs when a hen goes broody. I leave her on her nest on golf balls, and set the eggs. As soon as they hatch and dry, I take the chicks out to her that night and put them under her. The next morning she is Mama Amazing - never had a broody fail me yet - and I no longer have to worry about the chicks at all. As RR said, she will teach them their manners and woe be it to any other hen that tries to interfere with her babies.

2) If I am doing strictly an incubator hatch and have no broody, the brooder box goes into the coop the day I set the eggs. When the eggs hatch, the dry chicks are taken to the brooder box where they can be seen and heard by the rest of the flock. My brooder box is 28 inches wide, 5 feet long, and about 3 feet off the ground. It has a wire covered lid that the big hens can see thru from their roost. The legs have slats - much like a barnyard fence - around them that are about 4 inches apart. There is also a little roost under there for chicks. When the chicks are about 2 weeks old, they are transferred from the brooder box to the floor of the coop - their food, water, and heat lamp (if needed) are placed under the brooder box. From this point on, the chicks are part of the flock. They can run in and out under the brooder box for safety because the bigger hens can't get through the slats but they can. When they are big enough and adventurous enough, they leave the coop on their own and go to the run where they also have a pallet on legs just big enough for them to get under for safety that the older hens can't get under. They eat with the flock, learn their place, and when finally feel REALLY adventurous they head out of the run to forage with the rest of the flock on their own.

3) I have had the best of both situations merge before. I hatched a brood in the 'bator and put them in the box one day. A few days - nearly a week - later, I had a BA go broody on me. I didn't want to hatch any more chicks right then, so I gave her a couple of days to make sure she really meant it, then I went out in the middle of the night and put 15 of those 'bator hatched chicks under her. Mind you, those chicks were a week old and she had only been sitting a couple of days. The next morning those chicks were HERS and she raised them for 6 weeks beautifully.

4) I had an Wyandotte go broody on me and a friend wanted some eggs hatched. He didn't want them 'bator hatched, so we a dozen under her, right there in a bottom row nest box in the coop. No blocking her off or pinning her up, just left her right there. 8 days later, a BO went broody on me. I took half the eggs from the Wyandotte and put them under the BO. I checked the nests daily and the time or two I found someone else's egg there it was removed. They both hatched their broods on the same day and what was REALLY neat about this hatch is that both those broodies CO-PARENTED those 12 chicks. They went every where together, they ate together, they nurseried the chicks together, and all 12 chicks considered both broodies their mamas.

It was one of the coolest things I've seen so far, and I am going to see if it happens again this spring.

I guess the bottom line is, listen to the OTs if you want sage advice, and let chickens BE chickens. They figure it all out on their own. As long as they have enough SPACE to be themselves - room for the whole flock to integrate properly, they take care of everything else. You are only going to have problems if your flock is too cramped in the space you are providing for them and if the young ones don't have naturally safe places to hide from the older ones when they need it.

Good luck!!

Please see my concern of my attacking Leghorn submitted today. HELP. Thank you